► Readers Say

The first thing I look at

I find Shop-Eat-Surf to be a very useful and informative site that I enjoy browsing daily. Shop-Eat-Surf is the first thing I look at every morning to keep up-to-date on the latest talk, events, and happenings in the industry. I must say I am a fan of Shop-Eat-Surf.

- By Bobby Abdel, Partner, Jack's Surfboards

Executive Edition is a must have

Before Shop-Eat-Surf, there were two sites I paid for premium content on. One is Surfline, the other is the Wall Street Journal. One is about all things surf, the other, the best business content site in the world. Shop-eat-surf is the intersection of those two worlds. Shop-Eat-Surf provides everything from coverage of events, people, brands and trends. However, beyond the Executive Edition "wall" is more meaty analysis and interpretation of financial statements, business models and brand philosophies; why certain brands and companies are succeeding, where others aren't. The Executive Edition is a must have read if the business of surf and action sports are on your radar screen.

Industry parties at La Jolla Group open house for new headquarters

Hundreds of industry insiders mobbed the new Irvine, Calif., offices and distribution center of the La Jolla Group Wednesday night.

We're just now catching up, after our camera crashed that night. So these photos are all courtesy of the shooters working for La Jolla Group.

At the party, and the next day, all the buzz was about "the jump" and appearances by LJG owners, including Kurt Rambis, the former Lakers player and current assistant coach.

I spoke to LJG and O'Neill Clothing CEO Toby Bost while he stood in the middle of the long front hall, surrounded by industry heavyweights such as Michael Tomson and Gary Schoenfeld, who was wrapping up his first official day on the job as CEO and President of PacSun.

That front hall is bookended by the Lusk Training Center - a first class weight room - on one end, and nearly a city block away, a half-court basketball court.

Ryan Divel, Lost's marketing director, Joel Cooper, the CEO of Lost International, and Lost designerJohnny Monson.

Along the way, it threads past offices of O'Neill Clothing, Metal Mullisha, Lost and Rusty. The halls are lined with murals and surf mag cover-posters.

Behind it all is a massive distribution center. The entire building is a hefty 200,000 square feet. It also includes a 2,000-square-foot concept retail store, an indoor skate park, an exhibition wall for staff art works and "Walls of Fame" for each of the licensed brands.

The offices in Irvine are about 5 miles east of the old campus. They pull all the brands in the LJG portfolio together into one space, Lost President Tim Garrett explained.

In the old offices, the brands were spread around in separate buildings, and communication grew difficult, he said.